Teen Tuesday: Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

Image: Penguin Random House

Dear Justyce: a novel by Nic Stone. 266 p. Crown Books for Young Readers/ Random House/ Penguin Random House, September, 2020. 9781984829665. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Tuesday! Teen Tuesday features Dear Justyce: a novel by Nic Stone. In this sequel to Ms. Stone's critically acclaimed debut, Dear Martin, seventeen-year-old Vernell LaQuan Banks, Jr. (You better call him Quan) is awaiting trial for the murder of a police officer. It's a crime he did not commit, but he was at the scene. He has an arrest record, an overworked, possibly incompetent public defender and knows he's looking at hard time in prison.

He writes a series of letters to his friend, Justyce. The two met on a playground one night while trying to escape difficult times at home. The two boys were bright, loved school and loved to read. Quan had an aptitude for math and hopes for the future despite experiencing the trauma of witnessing the violent arrest of this father when he was eleven. Justyce had a mother who expected him to excel and supported him; Quan's mother sided with the teacher who accused him of cheating on an algebra exam. As Quan began to lose hope, the school-to-prison pipeline became an increasing reality.

Dear Justyce is a difficult read. It's raw. It's sad. It's intense. It's important. You don't really need to read Dear Martin before reading Dear Justyce, but you should. Both books belong on every kind of library shelf.